Sold. Japanese black pine shohin.

Last night I sold the above pine. I had been torn as to whether or not to sell this tree for about a year. Small black pines are hard to come by in Australia.

This morning when I went out to water and it was confirmed that it was a good decision. I moved my trees a little to fill in the space it had left and I didn’t miss it at all. In fact of all the trees I have sold I have never missed one. Now this is not because they were not good trees. Each one had been grown because it had good qualities or good potential, but for what ever reason they had stopped speaking to me. In this case it was a casuality of trying to cut down my collection a little so I can dedicate more time to refining each of my remaining trees.

I have also sold trees that I had sentimental attachment to aswell. I sold the first tree I grew a number of years ago. It was not a particularly good tree but for what ever reason I felt attached to it as it had been my first bonsai. It was a difficult decision to sell it but once it had sold I didn’t ever regret it or really even think of it again.

Which I guess brings me to my point, sometimes one of the best ways to improve your collection is to sell those trees that either have lesser promise in your collection or those that you are no longer enthusiastic about working up to a higher level. Once sold i am sure you will not regret it or even think twice about the decision. Not only will you be left with a better average level of bonsai in your collection but you may also be able to spend the sales proceeds on better bonsai or stock.